A Life of Chai: Reservations in India

The journey through life came to a T-junction. This is your invitation to pry into the diary, be the other tourist on the train, a voyeur at the accident, an eavesdropper on the argument. Two one-track minds merge with train-wreck results.

The girl Graham Field left in England is not the one who arrives in India. Sofia sees the trip as her swansong before motherhood, impatient to exchange backpack for a baby sling.

So begins the journey which is the:

Indian Itinerary of Endurance

• A cold snap makes for a chilly reception in Delhi
• First-class aggravation in Agra, tension at the Taj Mahal
• Backtrack to the ghost city of Fatehpur Sikri, a brief respite from outstretched hands
• Non-stop to balmy Bombay and a runny bum
• Tunnel vision, reaching down a Goan sewer for the irretrievable
• Cross-country to Pondicherry, pondering decoupling
• Wrong side of the tracks in Madras
• Mind the gap year in Mahabalipuram
• Grave digging, scrotum flicking, a big bhang triggers a pointless train of thought in Konark
• Striking differences in Calcutta
• Teased in Darjeeling, limited Himalayan view
• Letting off steam walking into Nepal
• Curfew and confrontation, the relationship reaches the end of the line in Kathmandu